Elasticsearch data input configuration fields

reference australia Updated Sep 10, 2026 8 min read hla-data-input-elastic-ref.md
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Description of the fields on the Elasticsearch data input configuration form.

Field

Description

Name

Name of the new data input. This field is required.

Description

Optional description of the data input.

Execute on

Option to determine whether to use a specific MID Server or a specific MID Server cluster.This feature is supported in the Health Log Analytics application, Version 26.0.17 - February 2023 and later, available from the ServiceNow Store.

MID

(Only when the Execute on field is set to Specific MID Server)

The MID Server to which log data from Elasticsearch indices is pulled. This field is required.Note:

  • The default maximum number of data inputs streaming logs to a single MID Server is 10. You can modify this number in the MID Server properties.
  • If log ingestion is not enabled for the selected MID Server, Health Log Analytics enables it automatically.

MID Server Cluster

(Only when the Execute on field is set to Specific MID Server Cluster)

The MID Server cluster to which the log data is pulled. This field is required.The data input runs on a single MID Server in the cluster until that MID Server fails. The system then moves all the data input tasks to the next available MID Server in the cluster according to the configured order.

This feature is supported in the Health Log Analytics application, Version 26.0.17 - February 2023 and later, available from the ServiceNow Store.

Note:

  • Health Log Analytics supports only failover MID Server clusters. In these clusters, multiple MID Servers are grouped together for failover protection. When selecting a cluster from the data input form, the MID Server Clusters list displays only failover clusters.
  • Log ingestion must be enabled for each MID Server in the cluster. If log ingestion is not enabled for the active MID Server, Health Log Analytics enables it automatically.
  • If Elasticsearch uses client certificate or CA certificate authentication, all MID Servers in the cluster must have the appropriate certificates.
  • The default maximum number of data inputs streaming logs to a single MID Server is 10. A cluster passes capacity validation if it contains at least one MID Server with fewer than 10 data inputs running on it, even when that MID Server is down.

For more information about MID Server clusters, see Configure a MID Server cluster.

Service instance

The service instance to which to bind the log data. This field is required.Selecting the service instance enables HLA to correlate CIs and service instances in the CMDB for root cause analysis.

Note: If no appropriate service instance exists, create one, add CIs to it, and set its status to Operational. For more information, see Create a Service instance (application service).

Field

Description

Status

Status of the data input. This field is read-only.

Transport

Protocol used to stream the log data. This field is read-only.This data input uses Elastic to stream log data to your instance.

Sources count

The number of log sources this data input has created. This field is read-only.

Disabled since

The time when the data input stopped or failed. This field is read-only.

MID last receiving time

The time when the last log streamed in the data input.

Field

Description

Server URL

URL used to access the cluster. This field is required.

Max connections per route

Maximum number of connections to be opened per node. Default: 2.

Max scroll slices

The number of shards configured for the relevant index in Elasticsearch.This number tells Elastic how many parallel queries to execute in each polling request.

Authentication method

The authentication method used to authenticate the data input to Elasticsearch. The options are: Basic auth, apiKey, or client certificate.Note: When you select the required authentication method, the corresponding credentials fields display on the form.

Basic auth credentials

User name and password used to connect to the Elasticsearch search engine.Note: Fill in either this field or the AWS credentials field.

Api key credentials

The API key used to connect to the Elasticsearch search engine.

Client certificate

The client certificate used to connect to the Elasticsearch search engine.

Use MID certificate policy check

Option to enable the MID certificate policy check.Select this option if you want to ship your logs encrypted using SSL TLS. Then navigate to All > MID Server > MID Security Policy and add the MID certificate policy check to the table. For more information, see MID Server certificate check policies.

Field

Description

Example

From/To

From and to dates and time for reading the data.- From: Don't read data older than this date.

Note: Setting this value to a past date might require the system to read large amounts of data, causing congestion.

  • To: Don't read data newer than this date. For live data, set this date far into the future.

From: 1970-01-01 15:59:59To: 2300-01-01 15:59:59

Use cross-cluster search

Option to search for data across Elasticsearch clusters.When this check box is selected, the Clusters to search field displays.

Note: Your settings in the Use minimal privileges check box and the Delay in reading current timestamp (seconds) field on the Advanced configuration form affect how data is collected across multiple clusters.

 

Clusters to search

The Elasticsearch clusters to search.This field displays only when the Use cross-cluster search check box is selected.

Do one of the following:

  • Leave this field empty or enter “*” to search all the remote clusters defined in Elasticsearch.
  • Specify the clusters to search in a comma-separated list.

Note: To also search the local cluster, add a comma at the beginning or end, or add two commas in succession to the list. For example: “east,,west” or “,east,west” or “*,”

east,west,south

Index prefix

Prefix for the Elasticsearch indices to read from. The data input reads only from indices with this prefix. This field is required.

only-read-these-indices-*

Use minimal privileges

Option to read log data directly from the Elasticsearch indices with the configured prefix.- When selected, the data input reads the log data directly from the Elasticsearch indices with the configured prefix. To perform this task, it needs only read privileges.

Note: When this check box is selected and you're using cross-cluster search, data is collected from all the clusters simultaneously.

  • When clear, the data input fetches all indices with the prefix, filters them, and reads the log data from the filtered indices. Performing this task requires additional privileges.

Note: Leaving this check box clear when using cross-cluster search affects how data is collected from the clusters. For more information, see the Enabling and Using Cross-Cluster Search for Elasticsearch Data Inputs in Health Log Analytics [KB1556079] article in the Now Support Knowledge Base.

For additional information about streaming logs using the Elasticsearch data input, see the Stream logs using Elasticsearch data input - Advanced guide [KB1080162] article in the Now Support Knowledge Base.

 

Document timestamp field

Timestamp field in documents stored in the read indices. This field is required.

 

Timestamp field format

Format of the timestamp field in the documents.If no format is specified, the default Unix epoch time format is used, in milliseconds. For example:

1684168407 (May 15, 2023 4:33:27 PM)

yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSSSSS'Z'

Term filters

JSON map of the terms to filter. Note: Avoid using the term query for text fields. If the target field is mapped as both text and keyword, reference the keyword by using fieldname.keyword.

{"severity": ["error", "warning"]}

Max documents per query

Maximum number of documents fetched in a single query.

 

Sliced-scrolling tiebreaker

Value used to slice the data. Each slice is scrolled in parallel. Default: _id

 

Search-after tie breaker

Unique value per document to use as tiebreaker when sorting log entries by timestamp.

 

Use search-after API

Option to toggle between using sliced-scrolling and search-after APIs. Note: Sliced-scrolling APIs are preferable when reading historical data, while search-after APIs are better for reading real-time data.

 

Index time-suffix format

Format of the time suffix when using time-based index names, such as [logstash-]YYYY.MM.DD. When using aliases, leave this field empty.

uuuu.MM.dd

Field

Description

Data reading timeout (milliseconds)

The duration of time, in milliseconds, before a request to the Elasticsearch cluster times out.

Index discovery interval (seconds)

The number of seconds between intermittent MID Server requests to the Elasticsearch cluster for new indices from which to read data.

Scroll context time (milliseconds)

The lifetime of the created scroll when using the scroll API to read data from Elasticsearch. For more information, see the Elasticsearch scroll API documentation.

Delay in reading current timestamp (seconds)

The number of seconds before current time to query to include delayed data.The configured number of seconds is subtracted from the current time for reading the last timestamp.

Note: If this value is 0 and data is collected from multiple clusters simultaneously, the query may not include data that was sent with a delay on one of the clusters,

Event processor workers

The maximum number of CPU cores used in parallel to process events fetched from Elasticsearch. A higher setting increases the data input throughput at the cost of higher CPU usage.

Worker queue size

The maximum number of batches to queue for processing. A higher setting increases throughput, at the cost of higher RAM usage.

Default timezone

The default time zone used when a log doesn't include time zone information.

Sub sample drop ratio

The number of events to batch together, out of which one will be discarded. This setting is used to reduce the number of fetched events.

Sub sample receive ratio

The number of events to batch together, out of which all but one will be discarded. This setting is used to decrease the number of received events.

Character encoding

The character encoding for this data input. This field is read-only.

Sleep interval (seconds)

The interval, in seconds, to wait before querying again after a query has returned no data.

Polling interval

The interval, in seconds, to wait before polling for new events.

Max length in bytes

The maximum length, in bytes, of log messages.
**Parent Topic:**[Data input configuration fields](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-operations-management/health-log-analytics/hla-data-input-config-fields.md)
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